Miss, Educated

'Educated' by Tara Westover (Penguin Random House, 2018)

With schools still closed or partially closed due to Covid-19, education is back in the headlines.  At first, it seemed like a dream scenario for many students, but the novelty soon wore off, and many are now realising the long term damage of a disrupted education.  Someone who knows more than most about the challenges of catching up on missed classroom time is Tara Westover, author of memoir 'Educated'.

Tara Westover grew up in rural Idaho, USA, the youngest of seven children in a family dominated by her father.  His twin obsessions were becoming as self-sufficient as possible in preparation for the end of the world, and avoiding contact with the authorities.  As such, while the children didn't go to school or see doctors, they learned to preserve food, use firearms and hide resources such as fuel around the family homestead.  They worked as his crew in their scrap yard, often risking life and limb in an environment where health and safety amounted to decaying steel toe-capped boots and not much else.  When accidents occur, the children are treated by their herbalist mother.  As she grows up, Tara's relationship with her siblings changes as they each begin living lives of their own.  While Tyler shows her there may be hope beyond the farmstead, the mercurial Shawn leaves her broken and doubting her own mind.  When Tara herself finally decides to pursue formal education, she manages to overcome her father's opposition, but, when challenged by life in an alien outside world, will she flee and return to the familiarity of home?

The Rising Son

As you've probably worked out by now, I'm quite a slow (but determined!) reader.  So it tells you something about 'Not My Father's Son' by the actor Alan Cumming that I read it in less than three days.

'Not My Father's Son'
by Alan Cumming
(2015, Canongate)

Alan Cumming may be a star of stage and screen, but this is not your average celebrity memoir.  'Not My Father's Son' is a book about family, physical abuse and the need to understand.  Mr Cumming and his brother, Tom, grew up in fear of their violent father, their childhoods overshadowed by his explosive rages, their adulthoods hastened by a desire to get away as quickly as possible.  Eventually, Alan was able to accept the reality of his traumatic past, through therapy and the support of friends and loved ones, but one day his long-estranged father contacts his sons with news that threatens everything.  This is the story of a defining period in Mr Cumming's life, during which he not only confronts the horrors and mysteries of his own past, but coincidentally those of his maternal grandfather too.

This is a beautifully written book.  Instead of being melodramatic, self-indulgent or a 'misery memoir', it reads more like a subtle suspense-thriller as Mr Cumming searches for the truth behind his ancestor's death (with the help of the BBC's 'Who Do You Think You Are?' programme) in parallel with trying to understand his father's behaviour and its affect on his own character.  By moving between the past and the present, he drip feeds information and builds a tension that makes this a real page-turner.  

The key theme is understanding.  It's not about vengeance, it's not about pity or 'poor me', it's not about abuse voyeurism, although it could so easily have become so in the hands of another writer.  I admire Mr Cumming for managing to stay focussed on the story he wanted to tell rather than slipping into sensationalism.  The plain English used keeps the book simple and factual and it works.  'Not My Father's Son' is heartbreaking, thought provoking, analytical and hopeful.  It also acknowledges that there were good times too, although they were often overshadowed by the fear of abuse yet to come.

Overall, I would recommend this book.  Mr Cumming is brave to tell this story and to do it in this calm and honest way, especially as many fans would want a more glamorous tale littered with celebrity names and showbiz anecdotes.  Instead, Mr Cumming uses the voice his success has given him to talk about something that happens at all levels of society and show us all that victims shouldn't be ashamed.

Now, back to the books.